Another Suspect Arrested for I.V. Home Invasion

On January 22, the Sheriff’s Office sent out a press release stating that a fifth suspect has been apprehended in connection with the Isla Vista home invasion robbery that occurred last November. The suspect, 19-year old Michael Gebremeskel, was arrested on January 17 on charges of conspiracy and accessory at his residence in San Francisco, with assistance from the San Francisco Police Department. 

The arrest is the latest development in an ongoing investigation by law enforcement into a home invasion where two Isla Vista residents were allegedly robbed at gunpoint of two laptops, a cell phone, a wallet, and some marijuana on November 18, 2019. On November 22, at a home on Del Playa in Isla Vista, Heyaw Meteke and Jawad Hebbar, both 21 years old, were arrested after detectives found items allegedly from the robbery. Then in December, a minor and Gavin Rapin, 18, were arrested in San Francisco with the help of the S.F. Police Department. 

Hebbar was later identified as an accessory, said Raquel Zick, spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, and he and Meteke have since bailed out of jail. Rapin and the minor were identified by Santa Barbara detectives as the two who reportedly held the victims at gunpoint. Gebremeskel and Rapin are being held at the Santa Barbara Main Jail, where bail is set at $250,000 for Gebremeskel and $1,100,000 for Rapin.